Sick Day
by BBAKaizer21
Summary: Kai keeps disappearing. Ray follows him to find out why.


Contrary to popular belief, Kai Hiwatari _did_ get sick. Not often, but it did occasionally happen, usually a few weeks before a big tournament, when stress was at its height. But if you talked to his teammates, they wouldn't be able to recall a single time they'd seen their captain ill. Well, Tyson and Max wouldn't, anyway. Ray, on the other hand…

Everyone knew Kai wasn't a social person. Hell, there was probably a picture of him next to the word 'anti-social' in the dictionary! Therefore, it wasn't completely unusual for him to disappear every now and again. But he always came back after a few hours, four at the most. So it was understandable that, when Kai went missing for eight hours, the other Bladebreakers got very worried. But the next morning, Kai was in his usual chair at the breakfast table, coffee and newspaper in hand. When asked about his disappearance, Kai gave his signature, "Hn," and turned his attention back to the paper. This continued for a week - Kai seemed to vanish after training was over, reappearing the next morning. When this happened for the eighth day in a row, Ray had had enough.

When he saw Kai leave, Ray followed him, taking care not to get too close. Kai loathed being watched and appeared to _sense_ when someone's eyes were on him; the only time people could watch him was during a Bey-battle, when he was too focused on the battle to notice. Surprisingly, Kai walked to a hotel. _Hm_, Ray thought, _well, that rules out Tyson's gang theory_. But what on earth could Kai be doing in a hotel?

Ray had theorized that Kai was doing some more extra-intensive training, because that was what Kai normally did when he went off by himself. Ray knew this because he'd once tagged along and participated in the training himself; he'd barely been able to move afterwards, too exhausted to do anything besides lie on the ground, gasping for breath, every muscle in his body burning painfully.

But now? A hotel wasn't exactly the place for training, seeing as hotel managers usually got mad if you wrecked their rooms. Kai paused outside the hotel's main entrance.

"Ray, I know you're there." Crap, he'd been discovered. Nothing to do but 'fess up and hope Kai didn't give him extra training.

"Hey, Kai." Ray said, embarrassed at being caught.

"Why?" Kai said in a rather demanding way.

"Why what?" Maybe if he acted all innocent Kai wouldn't make him do laps; Ray hated running laps. Kai merely gave him a pointed glare. Well, shit.

"Oh, why'd I follow you?" Ray took a deep breath. "We're worried, Kai."

Kai didn't react. Ray hadn't expected him to.

"You keep disappearing, more than usual, I mean, and you won't tell us where you're going,"

Max had asked that two days ago and had gotten nothing more than an annoyed "Hn."

"and, well, we're, um,"

God, Kai's glare was unnerving; it was like he was staring at your soul, contemplating how best to tear it to shreds.

"worried." Ray finished lamely, annoyed that he couldn't find a better word than 'worried.' _And_ he'd repeated himself. Way to look intelligent there, Ray.

"Where I go is no concern of yours." Kai said curtly.

"Yes, it _is_!" Ray burst out. "You're our _captain_, Kai! _Of course_ it's our concern where you go! I don't know what you think, but we care about you! What if you got hurt? Or worse?" Ray glared at Kai, unwilling to back down this time. Surprisingly, Kai looked away, shaking his head. Ray watched, looking for any indication that Kai was going to try and walk away, as the Russian pulled something out of his pocket.

"Want to know why?" Kai asked. Ray nodded; didn't Kai get that that was why Ray had followed him? "Here." Kai tossed him something. Ray caught it easily and examined it. It was…a bottle of prescription antibiotics, made out to Kai. So, Kai was sick? But he'd never acted sick. He never even _looked_ sick. When Ray looked up, Kai was watching him expectantly.

"You're sick? Ray asked, just for confirmation. Kai nodded sharply.

"Why didn't you _tell_ us? Or me, at least?" _Dammit, Kai, I thought you trusted me! Or, rather, trusted me more than the others_. Kai shook his head, but said nothing.

"Is this some stupid pride issue? There's nothing weak about being sick! It's _normal_!" Ray said, exasperated. He knew Kai came from a messed up background, what with Voltaire being his grandfather and having been trained by Boris, but really? Seeing illness as weakness? Just what had his captain gone through to make him think _that_? Being sick was a part of life; _everyone_ got sick.

Kai held out his hand. Ray lobbed the bottle at the older teen's head, disappointed when Kai caught it.

* * *

The next afternoon, Ray found a note on the refrigerator. It read:

"_Ray, _

_You're in charge while I'm gone._

_-Kai" _

That was it. No apology for making them worry, no explanation, nothing. Typical Kai.

Three days later, Kai stopped disappearing. Well, he still disappeared, but he came back for dinner and didn't vanish after eating. And life went on like that until the next time Kai got sick.

_End_

* * *

OK, I wrote this tiny little thing to get myself in the mood to work on _Recalled to Life_. Looking back at the chapters of _Life_, I saw ways to improve my characterization of Kai. In this fic (drabble?), I wanted to see if I liked my 'new' version of Kai.

Anyway, _Life_ will probably be updated some time this month. Right now, though, I'm doing finals, so nothing but studying for me. I'll try to update over Christmas.

Please let me know what you think of Kai in this – feedback on how _this_ version of my favorite Russian is received will greatly help me on his character in _Recalled to Life_.


End file.
